Metaphorical Language and Bourdieu's Thought: ANew Approach to Explain Pierre Bourdieu's SociologicalImagination

Metaphors help individuals express mental knowledge in the form of objective facts, that is, most abstract concepts become objective through metaphor and allegory. Almost all abstract conceptualizations occur through conceptual metaphor and metonymy. The present article is about the role of metaphorical language in Bourdieu's thought as a new subject. By studying Bourdieu's works, his major metaphors were extracted and analyzed using a qualitative content analysis method and the "Metaphor Identification Procedure" model. The findings show that Bourdieu's metaphors are interconnected as a network of concepts. The main metaphor of Bourdieu's thinking is conflict, and his other metaphors are a function of this metaphor. He has used several “Source Conceptual Domains” such as field, habitus, capital, play, and so on to analyze “Social Life” as a “Target Conceptual Domain”. Bourdieu has used economic metaphors in his social analysis and believes a "Sameness" exists between the economic market and the linguistic market. In some of his works, he has used embodied metaphors such as habitus. Physical metaphors are also shaped through a symbolic order and the separation of binary oppositions. He tried to visualize or objectify the subtle and abstract social world with metaphors which are spatial, temporal, economic, and physical.